Sunday, July 10, 2016

THE BASIC INCOME CONTROVERSARY

Regarding the minimum guaranteed basic income,* Jason Furman,** the top White House economist, says we shouldn't give up on jobs for a basic income, but we should try to increase the skills of the workforce.

What he doesn't realize is that thousands upon thousands of jobs are just going to disappear.  Just think how disruptive it will be when the driverless car is a reality.  Countless thousands of truck and taxi drivers are going to be put out of work.  What kind of jobs are out there waiting to be filled by these people even with increased training and how many of these people can take advantage of increased training.?

Even now there is degree escalation going on for jobs where formerly jobs requiring limited skills are now filled by those with some college or even degrees. I know of a lady with a college degree (with honors) who is working as a hostess in a hotel.  Tour direct didn't used to have a college degree required, but now they do.

And further automation of routine tasks alongside adoption of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence will almost certainly disrupt the labor market, pushing many workers out of a job and potentially out of the labor force.  A 2013 paper by Oxford University’s Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne concluded that 47% of the total employment is at risk from computerization.**

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/07/miimum-guaranteed-income.html
** http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/07/07/top-white-house-economist-dismisses-the-idea-of-a-universal-basic-income/?mod=djemRTE_h

No comments:

Post a Comment